Scoring breakdown

Looking at the precarious state of some sectors of the local car-making industry, Toyota's decision to build the Camry Hybrid at its Melbourne factory stands as a huge feather in the cap of the Australian arm of the brand.

While some local manufacturers are looking to the future and wondering if there's a place in it for them, Toyota's optimism alone is commendable.

Part of that future vision is that Toyota clearly sees hybrid technology as the immediate way forward as other brands stake their claims in the various worlds of LPG technology, diesel fuel and even pure electric cars.

Doubtless Toyota is exploring those avenues as well, but for now it's the hybrid car that it sees as the most valid response to environmental concerns and, again, that makes the decision to make the Camry Hybrid here even more impressive.

So what is a Camry Hybrid and is it worth owning as a second-hand car now that a few are hitting used-car yards?

While "conventional" might sound like a strange word to use for this new-ager, as hybrid cars go, the Camry is, actually, quite conventional.

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That is, it uses a petrol engine to both drive the car as well as charge a bank of on-board batteries which in turn can drive an electric motor.

In city traffic, it can crawl along on battery-power only, while the electric motor can also work in tandem with the petrol four-cylinder engine to provide maximum performance when it's required.

When braking, the Camry uses the energy generated in slowing the car to charge the batteries and, overall, the Camry Hybrid has an official government fuel figure of 6.0 litres per 100km compared with the 8.8 litres per 100km of its conventional, petrol-engined counterpart.

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Whether a Camry hybrid is right for you is a pretty important question, but as a second-hand purchase, the waters are even a little muddier as there are some important considerations with any used car that makes use of cutting-edge technology.

For a start, a modern hybrid is a very complicated piece of equipment. The way the two power systems interact and the rather large computer power needed to make it happen seamlessly are both potential areas of grief down the track.

And let's not forget that the simple fact that the hybrid has two – rather than one – power unit, itself makes things interesting.

For most owners, of course, the big worry is a battery-pack that dies.

Opinions vary over what is the lifespan of a hybrid's battery-pack, while Toyota maintains it should last the life of the vehicle. That, however, does not mean forever and best estimates we've seen (and evidence form older hybrid cars) suggests that 10 years might be the rough lifespan, after which the batteries would need to be replaced.

In the case of a Camry Hybrid, the oldest of which are still only about three years old, this should mean there's nothing to worry about yet.

That said, some Camry Hybrids were sold to government departments (which bought them as a means of reducing their fleet emissions) and these may have led pretty hard lives with a lot more use than a privately-owned example.

Many local councils and shires used the Camry Hybrid, as well as many government bodies, so they may have had multiple drivers over the years, especially if they were pool cars.

The flip-side is that until these cars start hitting an age where they begin to need new batteries en masse, they'll be finding their way into auto recycling yards (after crashes) faster than battery-packs will be dying of natural causes.

Previous experience with the Toyota Prius hybrid suggests that a good second-hand battery-pack can be had for around $1000 and the Camry is unlikely to be much different.

One thing that might cost more in a Camry Hybrid is servicing.

For a start, there's a fair bit more to maintain given the twin powerplants, but the Camry Hybrid is also one car that probably demands servicing from a Toyota dealer with experience in this model.

Some aspects of the car would not represent much of a challenge for most mechanics, but that complex drive system certainly would.

Any pre-purchase inspection should include the condition of the tyres fitted to the Camry. Being a heavier car (those battery packs again), tyre wear can be an issue, although it's probably fair to say that nobody ever bought a Camry Hybrid to go hooning in.

Even so, the low rolling-resistance tyres Toyota fitted to the car are crucial to its fuel consumption, and the wrong tyres can increase its thirst a little.

The other big question that needs to be asked when it comes to a Camry Hybrid over a conventional car is exactly what sort of driving you intend to use the car for.

The hybrid's big advantage is in urban areas and places of high traffic congestion when it can cruise around on electricity alone with an obvious fuel saving.

But if you plan to use the thing on longer, open-road jaunts, then you might be wasting your time and money with the hybrid option.

You see, once the batteries have run down, the petrol engine kicks in and tops them up as well as driving the car along.

On a steady highway cruise, you'll find the petrol engine running most – if not all – of the time, at which point it will use a similar amount of fuel as a conventional car with the same level of performance.

There's another thing to consider, too, and it strikes at the heart of the whole environmental thing (which is, of course, the hybrid's entire reason for being): While it might save fuel during its lifespan, there's a fair bit more material and energy required to build a hybrid over the same vehicle with a conventional driveline.

And recycling all those batteries at the end of their life? The jury's still out, but there must surely be an environmental price to pay when that time comes.

That said, by buying a second-hand Camry Hybrid you are, at least, recycling somebody else's hand-me-down, which makes a used example even greener than a brand-new one.